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Cool
Gay and TP-1000 going to wreck the league with their crazy comebacks...
Cool
Both are coming back better than EVAHHHHH...
More seriously, hoping Gay makes a heck of a come back like nothing happened.
Nique was still good after that injury ... lets hope for the best
I am hopeful that Gay can have a good season. Could see him averaging around 15 ppg.
Here's an ESPN article on the Gay signing. Among other things, Gay says he'll definitely be ready by training camp:
Michael C. Wright
ESPN Staff Writer
SAN ANTONIO -- Having spent time in Memphis, Toronto and Sacramento in a 13-year NBA career, new San Antonio Spurs forward Rudy Gay views this latest opportunity as his first shot to contend perennially for les. Gay spent some time with ESPN.com to discuss his rehabilitation process from a torn left Achilles tendon, what he brings to the Spurs, and why he opted out of a $14.2 million contract in Sacramento for the 2016-17 to take $8.4 million in San Antonio:
Michael C. Wright: How’s the rehab process going?
Gay: It’s great. I actually worked out today. I’m fully cleared to do everything. I’m fine now. The team, it has its own planning with me. But I’m ready to go. I’ll definitely be ready by camp.
Wright: So, why opt out of $14.2 million to come to San Antonio as a free agent for a little more than half of that for the 2017-18 season?
Gay: Looking at my career, it’s just time to win. That’s what it’s mostly about. I’ve been in this league for a little while now, and I haven’t gotten out of my career what I wanted. Coming to a place like San Antonio, it just seemed perfect for me.
Wright: It has been proved over the course of your career that you can get buckets, but in your mind, how does that fit in with San Antonio’s style of play?
Gay: I’ve talked to [Spurs coach Gregg Popovich], and we’ve had a couple of conversations. My game is one thing. But when a team wants to sign you, and you sign with a team, they have their own vision for you. So obviously, I want to take my game to another level. And if anybody knows how to do that, it would be Gregg Popovich.
Wright: What’s that next level?
Gay: Who knows (laughs)? As you said: I’ve been known to get buckets, and I’ve had that stigma of just being a scorer. But I think there’s a lot more to my game. I think I can show that here in San Antonio.
Wright: From your conversations with Popovich, is there a certain role you and the team envision?
Gay: Yeah, we’ve talked. The game is changing a lot. It’s all about positional basketball. The more guys that can play different positions, the better. So that’s pretty much it. There’s not too much to talk about. You have your teams like Golden State, Houston, who all have guys that are switchable. I think I can bring that to this team.
Wright: Did you get a chance to watch the Spurs during the playoffs? If so, what did you think?
Gay: For sure, I did. This is a team that’s traditionally great. Obviously, this year, a couple of injuries came into play. Who knows what would have happened? They would have made a better fight [if not for the injuries]. But I do honestly think the Warriors were just on another level this year. They’re a great team.
Wright: You took all of your free-agent meetings in Austin. What was the tie-in there?
Gay: I have a kinesiologist I’ve been working with that’s in Austin. Picking a team is great. But I don’t think any of this matters without me being healthy. So, I think that was the biggest thing.
Wright: Spurs fans are basketball-savvy. They know your resume on the court. What type of guy are you off the court, because you’ll be coming into a locker room that I’d describe as being very eclectic, maybe even strange?
Gay: (Laughs) Eclectic? I don’t know, man. I pretty much can fit in anywhere. I don’t see myself as having a problem in that locker room. Strange is good, though. Strange just means people aren’t scared to show how they feel, what they want. Hopefully it’s not weird. Strange is not bad. Weird is crazy (laughing). Maybe I can teach them some things.
Wright: You’ve been around a long time, and you talked about winning earlier. But when you’ve played this long, when does the winning start to overtake the financial aspect of all of this?
Gay: That’s the thing. When I got into the league, it was about winning first. There are a lot more what-ifs that come into play now. But always for me, winning has been the first thing. I’ve been in situations where I’ve had to deal with losing. But I’ve always seen myself as a winner or a smart basketball player. The financial thing, I think winning comes first, and everything else will follow.
Wright: Pop is probably one of the most socially-aware coaches in the NBA, probably in all of professional sports. How does playing for a guy like that resonate with you?
Gay: Even before signing here, I had the utmost respect for him. I’ve heard such great things about him, with that being one of them. You want to play for somebody that you respect on the court and off the court. That’s a guy you’d want to go to battle for, a guy that’s not afraid to say how he feels on the basketball court or off the basketball court.
Wright: I asked that because you’re a Baltimore guy, and given all the things that have happened out there over the years, I figured Pop’s social awareness would resonate. Speaking of Baltimore, didn’t you build some playgrounds out there for the city?
Gay: Yeah, I built a couple. For me, it’s just you have to start from the beginning in Baltimore. That’s anywhere. Anywhere there’s trouble, you’ve got to start from the beginning, and I saw that. The kids didn’t even have a safe place to play. I saw that and just thought I could at least do that for now. But there’s a lot more work to be done in that city.
Wright: Do you still have your basketball tournament out there?
Gay: Yeah, actually my basketball tournament [the Rudy Gay Basketball Tournament] is coming up in August. I had been searching and trying to do things around the city, and that’s just my way to raise money for different things. I have a charity, but I’ve always been very direct in what I wanted to give back to. You know how some people [want to take care of] the Boys & Girls Club or this or that? Well, that’s cool. That’s cool. But personally, I’d like to see that this computer lab is getting done, or these kids now have [what they need]. Actually, with building those jungle gyms in Baltimore, I had kids working to build them and they actually got salaries for that. Situations like that ... OK, obviously, there’s a lot of drug dealing. There’s a lot of killing. There’s a lot of gangs in Baltimore. That all stems from a sense of hopelessness and a sense of struggling. If you can give kids an actual face and a positive way to make money, that keeps them off the streets. I did things in Memphis [with hospitals], in Toronto. I was a little busy in Sacramento (laughing), a little distracted. But that’s one thing I wish I would have done more of while I was out here.
Wright: Having switched teams so many times and having worked in so many different environments, is there a perfect way to come into a new locker room and sort of find your own niche without stepping on anyone’s toes?
Gay: Just be yourself, and be a professional. That’s one thing I’ve always done. When I get into a new locker room you be a professional, do your job, and then everything else will follow.
Wright: You’re already in San Antonio spending time with the team. Got a bucket list on some of the things that you want to do in the city?
Gay: Win a championship.
http://www.espn.com/blog/san-antonio...io-bucket-list
Sounds good to me. Hope he can play.
Really excited to see what this guy has left. I know the Achilles is no joke in sports, but if he can even be 80% of what he used to be, this is still a great value signing for the Spurs.
More importantly, it brings a guy into the fold who is hungry....hungry to compete, hungry to win, hungry for a championship. The Spurs need more of that character on the team.
This guy seems to be the real deal
hope he wins at least one
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Precisely!
Gay can also pass the ball, so he's not a complete black hole. I just hope he won't forget how to score like LMA.Gay: Who knows (laughs)? As you said: I’ve been known to get buckets, and I’ve had that stigma of just being a scorer. But I think there’s a lot more to my game. I think I can show that here in San Antonio.
I think if healthy, and it sounds like he'll be ready, Gay is great addition next to Kawhi and even LMA. A lineup of Mills/Murray, Green, Kawhi, Gay, and LMA can be a threat on both sides of the ball!
Last edited by spurs10; 07-19-2017 at 06:12 PM.
I agree. Just clone Kawhi a few times and we would be pretty well set.I think if healthy, and it sounds like he'll be ready, Gay is great addition next to Kawhi and even LMA. A lineup of Mills/Murray, Green, Kawhi, Gay, and Leonard can be a threat on both sides of the ball!
San Antonio Spurs
1.?Agreed to a reported two-year, $17 million deal with forward Rudy Gay
This is a fascinating deal with wide-ranging implications for the Spurs. Let's start with what they can expect from Gay.
He's coming off what was, at age 30, the most efficient season of his 11-year NBA career, including a .559 true shooting percentage. At the same time, Gay is also coming back from an Achilles rupture, and the history of players who suffer that injury is ugly.
Going to San Antonio has the upside of allowing Gay to return at his own speed without pressure to play immediately. The Spurs have done a masterful job of managing their players' minutes during the regular season and don't need Gay to play heavy minutes because of their depth on the wing.
In time, if Gay proves healthy, he could allow San Antonio to play smaller than in recent seasons. A forward combo of Gay and Kawhi Leonard provides tremendous versatility at both ends of the court. Gay's defensive rebounding ability could be particularly important in such alignments.
Another reason the Spurs might be smaller next season is that they have limited avenues for adding big men to their roster. San Antonio could potentially use the biannual exception, and will be able to re-sign in bents DeWayne Dedmon, Pau Gasol and David Lee using non-Bird rights. However, the Spurs must carefully manage their salaries, because using the non-taxpayer value of the midlevel exception puts a hard cap on them at the apron, $6 million greater than the luxury-tax line.?
Including deals for Gay and Patty Mills, San Antonio has about $31 million to spend while staying below the apron. A new multiyear deal for Gasol, who passed up a $16.2 million player option in the hopes of signing a longer contract, could swallow up a significant chunk of that money.
The Spurs also have early Bird rights to restricted free agent Jonathon Simmons. The addition of Gay could make San Antonio reluctant to match a lucrative offer to Simmons, who could receive a backloaded offer because his salary the next two seasons is limited by the so-called Gilbert Arenas rule. (Note that the Spurs would be able to match an offer to Simmons using his early Bird rights and would not need the midlevel exception to do so. Additionally, under the revised rule San Antonio would have the option of averaging Simmons' cap hit instead of having it backloaded, though the hard cap likely makes that option unpalatable.)
So there's plenty more work ahead for San Antonio this offseason. Signing Gay only makes the rest of the Spurs' moves more interesting.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/nba-fre...ry?id=48492214
Plenty more work ahead? It looks like that was it after the Rudy Gay signing.
Old. They're still talking about how they could sign Deadmen, DLee and Pau.
I'm ready to get Gay with Rudy.
C'mon my beautiful babies... Let's do this damn thing!
Meant LMA, but like that cloning idea!
Meant LMA, but like that cloning idea!
A five-Kawhi lineup? I'm drooling over here.
Yeah, that was my thought, too!
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